Everything You Need To Know To Get Ready For Long-Term Remote Work
Remote work is no longer a “short-term arrangement”. However you’ve managed remote work so far, if it’s to be a part of your long-term vision for your organization, then you need to make sure it’s optimized and secure.
Exactly a year ago today, no one would’ve thought that this many people would be working from home.
Yet, here we are.
The numbers are truly astounding. In June, the estimate was that 42% of the United States’ labor force had transitioned to full-time at-home work.
For a while, most of us thought it would only last for a few weeks… maybe a few months.
Now, it’s been half a year. And many people are beginning to ask themselves: Is there an end in sight to the working-from-home economy?
A recent survey of 317 finance leaders and CFOs in the United States says no.
Will Working From Home Be A Permanent Transition For The Labor Force?
The survey, performed by Gartner Inc., has revealed that 74% of the surveyed leaders intend to permanently shift at least some of their employees to remote work. After all, there are many advantages to employees working at home — both for employers and employees.
Some organizations had already noticed these benefits and were making a slow transition to this employment style. Google, for example, would often let their employees do some of their work at home. The rise of the gig economy allowed freelancers to essentially start their own businesses by finding clients on their own or going through brokers like Fiverr.
Now, the pro-work-at-home mentality is on fast-forward.
If you’ve been thinking about transitioning some of your employees to permanent at-home work, there are some things you need to know. Most notably, you’re going to need to step up your IT game as you will be relying even heavier on technology and your IT support provider.
Questions You Need To Answer For Long-Term Remote Work
Are We Backing Up?
Every organization needs to back up their data. It needs to be backed up properly, often, and securely.
With the proper backup solutions, even if someone accidentally deletes a file, you’ll have it duplicated somewhere else. More importantly, though, you’ll have security knowing that even if a security breach occurs, it can’t break your organization entirely.
Do Our Employees Know How To Avoid A Security Breach?
Most cybersecurity breaches are caused by employees. Often, phishing emails are the culprit.
Your IT support should help you train your employees so that they know exactly how to avoid falling victim to a phishing email scam. Moreover, you need to teach them what to look out for and where to go if they do see something that makes them suspicious.
Who Has Access To Which Files?
Often, when employees work in only one area and only access networks and data storage through clean and secure access points, leadership doesn’t really confine file access. Not only should this change even if all your employees are still working in your brick-and-mortar space, but it should definitely change now that more employees are working at home.
Whether you like it or not, many employees will be using unsecured networks and devices that do not have the proper security layers in place to keep your files safe. Therefore, you need to start limiting the number of employees with complete access to all your data.
Do We Have Multi-Factor Authentication Enabled?
Multi-factor authentication makes passwords more secure. Inevitably, you and your employees will be using passwords every day, all day. You probably have multiple passwords that you use interchangeably between home and work.
First of all, it’s important not to reuse passwords. You should have a new password for every account that you have. This goes for everyone — you set the example for your entire team.
Second, multi-factor authentication should be enabled wherever possible. This ensures security for all of your accounts and data because it requires that the individual puts both their password and the second proof of identity into the login fields when logging into a given account or device.
Which Is Better: In-House IT Or Outsourcing IT To A Managed Service Provider?
All organizations will have different needs concerning their IT. For some organizations, having in-house IT support has maybe been the only option considered.
For the vast majority of organizations, however, the updated circumstances of 2020 have proven the value of outsourcing IT to a managed or co-managed service provider. Not only are MSPs already “at-home workers,” in effect, because they aren’t directly embedded with your employees, but they’re skilled and experts in working remotely with employees to drastically improve productivity and efficiency.
They have all of the proper channels set up for you to communicate effectively with them at any time. In some cases, managed service providers can offer even better on-demand service as they are often available 24/7 to answer your questions or address concerns or security breaches.
Need Expert Assistance With Long-Term Remote Work?
Let’s get started right away.
One thing to keep in mind is that well-managed service providers are being nabbed up fast. Organizations across the U.S. are quickly realizing that they need reliable IT service and enhanced support for the new systems and subsequent risks that have been presented during this time of COVID-19.
If you’re looking for help with your remote work, contact GO Concepts, considered the number one managed service provider for Boards of DD and providers in the state of Ohio.
For more information, click here to get in touch with us or call us at (513) 934-8235 to schedule a consultation.
